Tossing Stones 2 - In the Sea
by Princess Alexandria
Summary: Sequel to Tossing Stones - Bella's circle of friends and admirers grows, much to Rosalie's displeasure. Rose wants to slowly introduce the idea of being with Bella to the human, but with all this competition slow may not win the race.
1. Chapter 1

Tossing Stones 2: In the Sea

By Princess Alexandria

Bella stood awkwardly near the buffet table, a small plate in her hands filled with little meatballs and fruit. The bar had a long line up of people that must know either the bride or the groom, but Bella had no idea if anyone knew the old Bella here. She wouldn't be able to pick out a cousin if one existed and part of her feared one showing up.

"She's considerably older than him." Bella heard one woman tell another while still picking up food. It was clearly a negative comment, and the age difference was not huge. Bella wasn't a fan of this marriage for other reasons, but the age difference was the least of them.

"I know, what was he thinking? She has a daughter you know." When the other woman responded, Bella just started to wander away, before she got pulled into that conversation, or was forced to say something about the backstabbing. She wasn't sure, but she thought those women were related to Phil in some way, so that might mean they were at the 'family table' for when things started.

It was nice to not be away from Renee for a while though. The wedding itself was an Olympic sized exercise in patience as Renee misplaced things minutes after getting them and was a nervous wreck. The ceremony had been nice and Bella just gritted her teeth through the 'does anyone object', and apparently she now knew that she wasn't the only one doing that.

The music was starting to pull people out onto the dance floor and the couple were already out there. Bella glanced around and slipped out into the hall to find a bathroom and some quiet.

She sat on the bench outside the dance hall and took a deep breath, wishing she had a book or something, because Renee had denied her request to find someone to take her home after she'd put in some time at the party, and so Bella had to stay for the whole thing.

"You don't dance?" A male voice had her looking left to see a guy who was probably just a few years older than high school looking at her, before he sat down beside her.

"No, not really." Bella sighed and resigned herself to even more visiting with strangers. "I'm Bella Swan." She gave him what had become her practiced smile for the evening. "Renee's daughter."

"Oh," He seemed to stare harder. "The one that, well." His blush filled in the rest even as his mind caught up to him and made him stop talking.

"She only has one." Bella didn't comment on his huge blunder and glanced around the hall they sat in, the music from the room Renee had reserved easily filling in the silence.

"So, now that you've married her off, when is your big wedding?" Bella felt herself blushing even as she turned to see his teasing look.

"I'm thinking never." Bella gave a playful grimace and decided she preferred sitting out here talking to him to actually being inside right now. "You didn't see her almost lose it when she misplaced the flowers in the back. I think the stress of these things are actually a test of the relationship."

"So no boyfriend?"

Bella started to get a slight creepy vibe and what had been the start of a nice conversation now felt like a trap. "Nope." She didn't elaborate or give more information.

"Well that's good, you're still young. Plenty of fish in the sea." He smiled. "Oh, sorry, I'm Patrick." He said it like that would mean something to her, but didn't elaborate. Bella couldn't tell who invited him or why.

"Nice to meet you." Bella could see Renee peeking out the door and seeing her, and it was a relief for once when she saw Renee coming toward her.

"Yep." He gave a friendly smile that somehow still felt off to Bella. "These things are a little dull. You want to take off, get something real to eat?" His words were the last straw, Bella was convinced he was a creep now. She was supposedly sixteen years old, at her mother's wedding, and that sounded like a pick up line.

"Bella." Renee spoke up and glanced between Bella and the man. "Patrick, I see you met my daughter."

"Lovely girl." Patrick turned his eyes to Renee. "And look at you, Mrs. Dwyer now." He smiled and Renee blushed and Bella resisted the urge to sigh heavily at the game she was watching. "I know you and Phil must have a busy night ahead of you. I could take Bella to get some dinner, and bring her home if you want, so you can stay out later."

"That isn't necessary, I filled up on meatballs." Bella spoke up, afraid of what Renee might do or if she even realized how inappropriate Patrick was being. Bella was not going anywhere with him, her hands were a little shaky with the idea of it.

"You did miss dinner dear." Renee started and Bella shook her head obviously from side to side as Patrick was watching Renee. "Oh well, if you think you don't want to go I could use a little help with my dress."

It was a quick pin job to deal with a broken zipper and Bella helped Renee in the bathroom. "That was nice of Patrick to offer, don't you think?" Renee asked while she started to readjust her hair in the mirror.

"He wants to take your underage daughter out alone. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have ended well for me." Bella spoke firmly, disgusted at Renee's trust. Bella's real mother had died horribly and Bella was very cautious about creepy men now.

"You think? Patrick?" Renee turned to give Bella a serious look. Bella braced herself to be ridiculed for her fear. "I don't think he's like that, but you trust your instincts Bella, always trust your instincts." Bella blinked in a bit of shock.

"I will." For once Renee lived up to what she was supposed to be, and Bella gave her a small smile. "Nice wedding."

"It is, isn't it?" Renee grinned happily and squeezed Bella's hand before heading to the door of the bathroom to return to the party. Bella followed her back in, rather than sit back down with Patrick. With little else to do, she sat on the edge of the dance floor, drinking one coke after another while watching others dance for another hour.

"This seat taken?" Another male voice spoke up and Bella looked up to see a younger guy, perhaps even high school age, standing by the table.

"Nope." She turned to pretend to be absorbed in the dancing again.

"I've never been to one of these things before." He said and Bella turned to pay attention to him. She could see over his shoulder that Renee was giving her a smirk, before turning back to the conversation she was having with Phil's mother.

An hour later, Bella and Renee stood on the sidewalk, waiting for Phil to bring the car around. "Did you have fun?" Renee asked in a girlfriend teasing tone and Bella sighed. "That boy, what was his name?"

"Joseph." Bella had seen the goofy looks Renee gave her, playing the role of friend.

"Did you get his number? You two could do something tomorrow perhaps."

"I don't date, and I sure won't date here. What would be the point when I live in Washington?" Bella grumbled, tired and eager to just get to the house and go to bed.

"Not everything has to be serious Bella, especially not at your age." Renee huffed and looked up and down the road obviously, looking for her car. It had to be the alcohol talking, because Renee went into a new direction. "There are plenty of fish in the sea, and now is the time to taste the selection Bella. You're young, pretty, and free."

"Well, thank you, but I'm not interested in what Arizona has to offer." Bella could see the car pulling up and moved forward to open the door before Phil tried to be a gentleman. It was there night and Bella got into the back seat without comment as he helped Renee into the front. Renee had drank enough that the help might have been a little necessary.

They were down the block when Renee spoke up, "Isn't Joseph one of your cousin's Phil?" Bella just closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. "He was sitting with Bella, I think he should come over to visit tomorrow. Bella is going to get bored hanging out at the house with us."

"Joey?" Bella looked over at Phil to see him glancing in the rearview mirror and giving Bella a hint of a grin. "Sure, I can call Joey. Maybe you and he could hit the movies."

Bella wanted to just say no right away, but then she noticed the look Phil gave Renee and the idea of hitting the movies sounded like a great idea. She might want out of the house for a while, and her flight wasn't until the day after. "I could just go to the movies by myself you know. I have my license and there are a few movies I'd like to see."

"No, no, you're visiting. I wouldn't kick you out of the house when you're visiting." Renee protested and Bella couldn't believe the woman didn't grimace when she heard herself speak, after kicking Bella out of the house months ago. "But Joey looks like a nice boy, doesn't he?"

"Joey is a great kid." Phil added. "You two could have fun." It was clear she wasn't going to get to leave for alone time at the movies.

"Okay, but I drive." Bella didn't want to be at some strange boy's mercy for transportation. "And this is not a date."

"Why not?" Renee turned in her seat to look at Bella. "One date isn't a big deal, just because you don't plan to see him again doesn't mean you can't practice dating with him."

"Because he'll expect something if we call it a date and I'm not prostituting myself out so you can have private time with Phil." Is what Bella wanted to say, but she bit back the argumentative words, "I'm not ready for dates." Is all she said and Renee gave her a look like she was naïve and Bella left it at that.

Emmett might have teased her about her impending date, hell even Alice might have had a few words to say, because that boy was everything Bella didn't want in a date, a young boy. His connection to Arizona was also not a good thing, but once Bella got a taste of the sexuality flowing between Renee and Phil, even as they were getting out of the car, it seemed a small sacrifice to spend a few hours with some boy she barely knew to get away from them.

Sleep was very hard to come by and for once Bella took the sleeping pill she had when she didn't have a good reason. Renee and Phil's moans were horrifying to listen to and the pillow didn't block them out enough to let Bella sleep.

**TANYA POV**

Tanya stood in the bathroom, leaning over the counter a little with her left hand moving quickly over damp flesh, until the tension in her body spasmed and then faded. She could hear the man she'd come to this hotel room with sleeping from the leeching she'd done and the extra energy from the sexual encounter gave her body a bit of a buzz and had completely alleviated the shaky tension she'd had before.

"Well, thanks for the night loverboy." She muttered as she put on her clothes and grabbed her purse to leave. He didn't wake up, he wouldn't for a few hours. He wasn't energetic enough to warrant another visit so she didn't leave her phone number. Only some humans flowed with the energy to the point they were worth cultivating for more than one time, and he wasn't even close. She'd known that going in, but it was time and she didn't like hunting for this for long.

She stopped her SUV at a corner a few blocks away and one of her sisters slipped into the passenger seat. "I'm still hungry, that one didn't even stay awake long enough to make it exciting." Kate complained as she slipped into the vehicle.

"Mine wasn't a repeat customer." Tanya sighed as she added that. Hunting for their succubus needs were getting difficult in this town. They'd have to start in another next time. They didn't do this close to home, it would make walking around town awkward, but they'd have to start doing this even further from home now.

Once Irina was picked up as well they started out on their trip back to Denali. "If you aren't picking good men Kate, perhaps you need a break. Even I tossed yours back, he had nothing sparking in him." Irina said while Tanya was pulling onto the freeway.

"Well, switching to women would make this town worth another visit." Kate said, but Tanya didn't agree. This town was off the list for now, the offerings weren't that great.

"I'm thinking of trying Bellingham next time." Tanya offered up a new plan, a bit further away. "We could run it and save time."

"We'd have to, the trip would kill the cars." Irina added. "Bellingham huh? That's not too far from Forks."

"Not really close either." Kate added with a teasing smile Tanya could see in the rearview mirror. "Does someone want to see if Bella sparks better than the men around here?"

"No, no, she's, well, I'm guessing she's off the menu." Irina's voice rose a little.

"She sounds like she's a real firecracker though, bet she sparks something fierce." Kate continued to tease. "And did you catch that she doesn't seem to have a problem with female lovers? No pronouns, when she talked about every vampire that was better than Edward, there were no pronouns."

Rather than let the teasing get to the point Irina got flustered and ended up damaging the dashboard again, Tanya spoke up. "So do we agree this town is dead? We need to find a new fishing hole?"

"Bellingham it is." Irina voted and Kate made some noise that Tanya took to be agreement as well.

"And since we'll be in Washington anyhow, I say we visit Carlisle and the others more often." Kate added mischievously. "I still think that Bella girl probably sparks at least twice as bright as the man I just had. We owe her anyhow, a little sexual release might be just the thing to say 'thank you for saving Irina's life' don't you think?"

"Somehow I can't imagine the Cullen's, of all covens, to be okay with that type of thank you for her. I think they think of her as their little girl, and I don't know how many momma bears you'd have to face if you deflowered their little girl." Tanya warned Kate.

"Please, she said she's been with biters, clearly she's deflowered." Kate spoke up again, but Tanya noticed that Irina wasn't joining in on the conversation at all. Her quiet sister was not looking too pleased with the topic either.

"That girl saved my life, can we stop acting like she's just a sexual spark to feed our needs? She saved me from a disaster bigger than the mistakes I've made in the past." Irina finally had enough.

"Sorry." Tanya reached over and squeezed Irina's hand gently before putting both hands back on the steering wheel.

"She saved me." Irina repeated quietly and Kate's expression was more serious as well.

"She did, and I can't possibly thank her enough for that sis. Nothing would be the same without you." Kate told her and Tanya couldn't help but agree. That loss was a horrifying nightmare and even though they avoided it, Tanya still found herself aching at the thought.

Tanya made up her mind to call Esme about a visit. They needed to thank Bella in person, to meet her. Since they had to go to Washington anyhow next month, they might as well see if there was any way to repay Bella for what she'd done for them.

**EMMETT POV**

Alice was having a vision and Emmett glanced over from his video game to see her when Edward made a snorting laugh at what he was seeing. "Good, she should try to have a normal life."

"What are you talking about?" Emmett could see something a little vindictive in Edward's eyes and Alice came too with a hint of a frown on her lips.

"Bella has a date with a normal human boy." Edward flung that out and walked out of the room, but Emmett turned to give Rose a concerned look, not liking that.

"She wouldn't do that." He told his wife quietly.

"It's not really a date, she's just going to the movies." Alice added.

"Because going to the movies isn't a date?" Rose hissed out and Emmett didn't like the way she just stared at her own hands. "No, no, she wouldn't do that. Emmett's right, the girl doesn't like young boys at all."

"Right, whatever he might think it is, she won't be interested." Alice spoke up.

"And he's human; our little body snatcher can't really date a human. That would be a waste of all her coolness." Emmett added with a hint of a smile.

"If she really wanted to date a human, wanted that," Rose sighed. "Well, I better come up with something to do when we get her back." The way Rose sat up a little had Emmett relax, because his Rose wasn't giving up at the first sign of a 'human life' for his Bells. That was good, because that boring life Bells was talking about having was horrible and the girl had no interest in the one Rose would step aside for.

"Have you thought we could go back to the cabin on that beach?" Emmett started to say, but then they could hear Esme coming back from her hunt, talking to someone. Emmett took a moment to listen and couldn't hear a second person, so Esme had to be on the phone.

"That's wonderful. We'll see you then." Esme said while coming up to the front door and she was hanging up as she entered the house. "The Denali's will be here next month. I told them they should stay the week."

"Nice, the single vegetarian vampires are coming." Edward spoke as he came back downstairs and Emmett gave him a dirty look, understanding what he was insinuating.

"Oh god." Rose said so quietly only Emmett likely heard her and he gave her a concerned look and reached out to touch her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

In The Sea by Princess Alexandria

Chapter 2

Bella could hear morning loving was going on, and groaned and put her pillow over her head for a moment, before deciding if she did get up and go downstairs she'd be further from the sound. She could turn on the TV as well.

Sure, they'd just gotten married, but Renee was the one that insisted Bella come and stay at the house. Bella had known she should get a hotel room, but the woman fought her on that and then arranged to send Bella out with random boys to get her out of the house. Bella would never understand how that woman thought, if she thought at all.

A quick inventory of the kitchen had Bella groaning. "Really, you didn't think about the morning after?" Bella just stared at the two eggs and the nearly empty milk and shook her head. She grabbed the car keys and headed for the door without asking, because once the couple was done they'd want to come downstairs and have a cutesy breakfast in celebration of the wedding and there was no food. Bella had a legal license now, no car, but a legal license and she borrowed the car for the trip to the store.

Once she started it up she watched the gas gauge, because she'd learned that was necessary with Renee, who actually did call AAA occasionally for running out of gas. "Fumes, still enough for the store." Bella muttered and tossed the car in reverse. She wasn't made of money and paying for breakfast was all she was willing to do. That poor man deserved a good breakfast, he didn't know the mess he'd walked into and Bella had been unkind in not warning him. Eventually Renee's mask would slip and her helplessness would have to annoy him. What man wanted a helpless flighty female? Bella couldn't even imagine it herself.

With the late wedding and the noise in the house, Bella would have slept until noon if Renee and Phil hadn't started up again. Still, it was past breakfast time and the store was a bit busier than the one in Forks would have been at ten am. She made her way down the aisle, looking for eggs and cheese for some omelets. She was trying to pick out a cheese when she heard a familiar voice.

"Tell me you're going with swiss cheese." The tone was mocking and cruel and Bella resisted the urge to sigh heavily, while picking up a different cheese and putting it in her cart. "Aw, not a cannibal?" The mocking continued and Bella looked over at one of the kids that used to give her trouble at school around here. "Tell me, do you eat meat? I've got a sausage you should try." She gave the tall thin dark haired boy a glare and took in that he was wearing an apron for this store. Someone hired that jerk.

"Get lost, don't you have work to do." Bella moved to start to push her cart toward the front, not caring if she didn't have everything she came here for yet anymore. They were almost at the end of the aisle when her path was cut off by what had to be the stores 'courtesy clerk'. "I don't come to the store to be sexually harassed by you." She let out a disgusted breath and grimaced as he put his hand on her cart, making it hard to leave.

"Please, you should be so lucky. I wouldn't really sink my dick into damaged goods like you, Swiss Cheese." This kind of crap was worse than what he'd done in school, and Bella found it made her more nervous to have it happen out in the 'real world'. Her heart started to beat a little faster.

"David." A growled masculine voice spoke up behind Bella and she watched David's shock before glancing behind him to see a store manager who looked livid. "My office, now."

"I am so sorry ma'am." Bella turned to face him once David made it halfway down the aisle away from her. "We do not," The apologies just kept coming. All Bella could think of was that she was grateful she was leaving town and she wasn't going back to that school, or even spending more than a day here.

Bella was not in a good mood when she finally got back to the house, one grocery bag in her hand as she made her way inside. Her mood wasn't helped by what she found just inside the door either. "Who gave you permission to take the car?" Renee stood, arms crossed, glaring at her.

Bella glared back and held up the grocery bag. "You didn't remember to have breakfast in the house for after your big night. No need to thank me." Bella slammed the bag down on the table just a little harder than she should with a bag of eggs.

Renee just stared at the bag for a moment and her arms slowly uncrossed as she did it. "Oh."

"Yeah, and I didn't get more gas, but you can't go anywhere without doing that first." Bella put the keys down and ignored the woman while pulling the eggs out, along with the cheese and a few other things.

"I'm sorry." Renee spoke more softly.

"Whatever, breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Bella."

Bella turned to look at a contrite looking Renee. "He like mushroom and cheese omelets?"

"I don't really," Renee stammered a little and Bella wasn't surprised Renee didn't seem to know.

"Well, that's what I'm making."

"Thank you." Was the awkward reply and Bella did her best to let go of her irritation. She didn't live here and she was leaving soon. Nothing mattered, and even the bastard that bothered her at the store didn't matter. She hated Arizona and she was pretty sure she wasn't ever coming back after this trip.

Phil called Joseph, which is a bit embarrassing for Bella but he thankfully didn't call it a date. Renee still insisted on calling a date. It wasn't a date.

Bella was glad that Joseph was actually interesting as they sat through their movie after lunch. He wasn't pressing for more, he was acting like a friend and it helped Bella relax. It felt wrong to be out with a kid like this. They sat through the credits just to make sure there wasn't any interesting bit after them all. "I guess it's over," She said when the lights went up and nothing had happened.

"Sure," He stood up and faced her. "Want to get some ice cream? It's hot enough to cook eggs outside." It was a prolonging technique, and Bella felt she should just take him home, but then she'd have to go back to Renee's as well and Joseph was much easier to get along with than Renee. It was also possible that Renee and Phil were at it again and an awkward not date was easier to deal with than sitting in a house with a two person orgy going on upstairs.

"Alright, let's go." They walked down the block to the ice cream place and found it was crowded.

After ice cream, Joseph pointed toward the bathrooms. "I'll wait for you outside." Bella told him, seeing a large crowd coming in.

She was a few steps out away from the crowd while she waited.

…

Esme POV

Esme looked around at the empty room with a hint of a smile. Decades old boxes had been hauled away, full of things that Alice had tired of, or Rosalie and Emmett had broken. The room was a complete blank slate now. Esme's smile grew as she started to put up drywall to make it more of a real room. The heating system wasn't technically needed, but now that they were adding a rec room to the house in this way they should have it heated, so she was adding that as well.

It was tempting to just jump in with decorating ideas, but Esme was only doing the basic work and then she'd pull Bella into designing it with her. She needed to show Bella how much she might enjoy a career like that, one in design, and what better way than to have her help. The room could be done in time for Tanya's coven to stay in it. Sure it wasn't a guest room, but it was a little further off for some hint of privacy for the other coven if needed and they didn't sleep so a rec room would be enough for a short visit like this. The room had originally been the garage for the house, but they had a separate garage.

She had the sheetrock up and was prepping it when she heard familiar footsteps coming down the stairs. "Did you want to help me tape?" She asked as Edward came into view. He gave her a hint of a smile.

"Sure, why not." He bent down to grab another roll. She knew he wasn't there to help her, and he was moving human slow so she slowed her own pace down to match. "I want to talk about Bella."

Esme did what she could not to think about how sad things were for him and just nodded. "What about Bella?"

"Do you think she doesn't belong with a human? I mean, she's in a human body, shouldn't she get a human life?" He spoke quietly, and Esme listened harder to find out who was in the house. "Rose and Emmett went out." Edward told her what she was trying to determine.

"She'd have to lie all the time if she tried to have that life. She could never be honest with anyone." Esme sighed heavily. "She was hurting herself trying to do that with us, her nightmares were getting worse. How could she do that with a lover?" She paused and turned to face him. "And she's going to run into vampires again. I hope you aren't trying to tell me you think we should leave her."

"No, no. I learned my lesson there." Edward faced her and the sadness in his eyes made Esme want to hug him, but she waited to listen to him, knowing he had more to say. "She's had a tough life." He commented and Esme felt an ache in her chest at the truth of that. "Pulling her into this, into our lives, is that really the right thing to do? Rose and Emmet," he shook his head, "it's just wrong. Marriage is between ONE man and woman, or I'll even allow between TWO people, but this? What they want?" He started talking a little louder and faster, "She's fragile, she's delicate, she human and they are Married! What are they thinking? I thought I could know, and even hearing it, I can't understand how any of you think this is okay?"

Esme let out a puff of air and took that moment to think about what she wanted to say. "Nothing has happened yet Edward. You're hearing dreams and wishes and fantasies, but nothing real has happened. Rosalie and Emmett want something, but they don't think they really already have it. They want the chance to ASK, the want the opportunity to SEE if she'd be willing. The decision is all Bella's. That's why I'm okay with this. They are only after the chance to ask, and if Bella accepts then it was Bella's decision. Bella doesn't make rash decisions." Esme's voice softened. "And she doesn't love easily but you can't look at how she interacts with those two and not see something is there. She didn't have any love in her last life, this is her second chance and maybe that would even it out. I don't know. I do know it isn't my place to get in the way, because it isn't about me, and it isn't about you."

Edward moved to start working again, clearly deep in thought and so Esme quietly got back to work herself. "If she herself doesn't think she can be with a human, she doesn't see any other options here. She doesn't see me and I'm the only single vampire she knows. Shouldn't she meet others before resigning herself to be a third wheel? Shouldn't they want that for her? Rose is upset the Denali's are coming, she wants to keep Bella all to herself, to limit her options."

"You think she belongs with one of them?" Esme's eyebrows rose a little. It wasn't a secret in their family that the succubi were promiscuous and Edward didn't approve of that either.

"They are single." Was all he said.

"Well, all we should do is stand back and stay out of the way." Esme held a tone of warning in her voice. She was a little surprised that the idea of that disappointed her a bit, because the Denali's were family, but they weren't family that stayed close. Esme wanted Bella in her own family, if she were honest with herself she wanted to take Bella with them when they finally had to leave Forks. Perhaps that had something to do with her current stand back and wait attitude, she wasn't sure, but she just thought it was best to stay out of the entire thing.

"I still have trouble being around her, and I probably always will." Edward's voice was low and quiet.

"You need to keep practicing. We know you can do it."

"I did it in that other reality, the one where Bella was mine. I don't know if I can do it without loving her."

Esme tried to not think about it, but she couldn't stop her darkness from latching onto his words and thinking about what she'd do to him if he ever hurt Bella. The thought of Bella dying put a hole in her heart and Edward was never going to be left alone with her to risk that happening for real.

"You want her here, but you don't want me to go away. This isn't going to work Esme, I can't see how this is going to work." He let out his own slow breath, a human habit they all maintained and practiced often. "Not unless she's changed and thankfully that girl has too much sense to want that."

"You assume she doesn't want that Edward, but what she really said is that she doesn't know enough to know what she'll want." Esme had been thinking about that since it came up.

"Once she knows, she won't want to lose her soul like this. She seems smart enough to know her soul truly is immortal. I mean, she came from one life to another, she's proof that the soul is immortal." It was interesting to see how Edward had gone from not believing in Bella or reincarnation to accepting it and using it as proof of his own beliefs. "I just needed to talk."

"I'm always here for that." Esme gave him a hint of a smile as they both got back to work at a vampire pace to prepare the room. Hopefully Edward listened to her and just stayed out of it though, because the arguments in the house were making everyone tense.

"Alice?" The tension in Jasper's voice had Esme stopping what she was doing and moving for the stairs. She was just behind Edward, who had beat her to them.

"Oh god," Alice reached for her phone and Esme watched her just stare at it a moment. "Bella doesn't have a cell phone." Alice's voice rose higher at that.

"What's going on?" Esme asked, seeing that everyone else was very tense.

"Someone is planning to attack her!" Esme growled at Alice's words and her fists clenched.

….

Bella POV

It was taking a while, but there was probably a line. Bella wandered further from the noisy kids that were there for a party and stood at the corner of the store.

"Hey!" A loud angry voice had Bella turning to see David walking up to her fast and her heart had just a moment to pound before he reached back and threw his fist toward her. "Got me fired you bitch!" Bella stumbled back to try and avoid getting hit, but pain erupted from her cheek as she spun around.

"What the hell!" Another voice yelled out and Bella fell to her knees as she heard pounding feet coming their way. Bella looked up to see Joseph tackling the bastard attacking her and knocking him down.

The fight was brutal and fast and Bella scrambled to get further away from it as Joseph slammed his fist into David's face twice and David tried to get away. She got to her feet and stood helplessly to the side as Joseph protected her.

Once David groaned and just laid still, Bella's 'date' for the day moved away from him. "What the hell was that about?" He turned to stare at Bella and the anger in his eyes faded. "Oh, you're going to get a shiner."

"I don't," Bella's voice was shaky and her body was trembling.

"Let's get out of here." Joseph moved closer and the small crowd that had seen this didn't stop them as he guided Bella back down the road toward the car. "Are you okay?"

Bella started having trouble seeing through the watery tears in her eyes. Her face hurt and it came out of no where. No one had ever hit her before, and it made her feel helpless and weak and she hated it.

"Thank you." Her voice cracked. God, if Joseph hadn't been there, what would have happened? Her tears started falling.

They were half way back to the car when Bella starting to wonder if they should have walked away. Shouldn't she have called the police? She wasn't staying here, she just wanted to leave. She wanted away from this place.

"Come on, it's okay." Joseph pulled her into a hug and held her. He wasn't nearly as big as Emmett and Bella found herself aching for him to be Emmett. She'd feel safer if it was Emmett or any of her vampires. She didn't want to be with a stranger now, and she really didn't want to go home to Renee and comfort that woman about this rather than deal with it herself. "I'm going to drive, okay? You really shouldn't be driving."

Bella handed him the keys as they got to the car and he stood still and held her chin, forcing her to look up at him as he studied what must be a growing bruise on her face. "I think we need to get you an ice pack." He let her go and spoke softer, "What was that about?"

"He was one of the bully's at my old school and today he was picking on me at the store he worked at. I guess he got fired for it." Bella's voice was shaking and Joseph didn't ask any more questions, he just opened the door for her so she could get in.

When he started the car, Bella could envision the drama she'd walk into at the house. "I don't want to deal with Renee now." She used her shirt to wipe at the tears on her face.

"What, I mean she could help patch you up."

"She never helps. She's going to freak out and make it all worse."

Joseph stared at her a moment. "Want to come to my house? My mom's at work and it'll just be us, but I know I have an ice pack." Bella just nodded, thinking it was sad that Renee was so much trouble she really couldn't go back to the house now.

As he drove, Bella could see he had swollen knuckles that had to hurt, but he wasn't saying anything about them.


End file.
